LIVE (Locals Into Victoria’s Environment) is a non-profit, community organisation based in the City Port Phillip, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Our goal is to reduce the human contribution to, and the impact of, climate change on our planet. We do this by creating and delivering information, facilitating actions, involvement in campaigns and influencing decision makers.

“De-smogging mining Director Ian Plimer is an essential task as he purports to give credibility with his BSc (Hons) and PhD to the denier community. We cheered when he took on the creationists but now jeer as he sells himself to Gina Rinehart, joins Christopher Monckton in facile roadshows delivering cherry- picked arguments and publishes highly ideological articles on climate change.” Greg Hunt

15 year old activist Greta Thunberg speaks truth to power at the UN COP24 climate talks:

“My name is Greta Thunberg. I am 15 years old. I am from Sweden.

I speak on behalf of Climate Justice Now.

Many people say that Sweden is just a small country and it doesn’t matter what we do.

But I’ve learned you are never too small to make a difference.

And if a few children can get headlines all over the world just by not going to school, then imagine what we could all do together if we really wanted to. But to do that, we have to speak clearly, no matter how uncomfortable that may be.

You only speak of green eternal economic growth because you are too scared of being unpopular. You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess, even when the only sensible thing to do is pull the emergency brake.

You are not mature enough to tell it like is. Even that burden you leave to us children. But I don’t care about being popular. I care about climate justice and the living planet.

Our civilization is being sacrificed for the opportunity of a very small number of people to continue making enormous amounts of money.

Our biosphere is being sacrificed so that rich people in countries like mine can live in luxury. It is the sufferings of the many which pay for the luxuries of the few.

The year 2078, I will celebrate my 75th birthday. If I have children maybe they will spend that day with me. Maybe they will ask me about you. Maybe they will ask why you didn’t do anything while there still was time to act.

You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes.

Until you start focusing on what needs to be done rather than what is politically possible, there is no hope. We cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis.

We need to keep the fossil fuels in the ground, and we need to focus on equity. And if solutions within the system are so impossible to find, maybe we should change the system itself.

We have not come here to beg world leaders to care. You have ignored us in the past and you will ignore us again.

We have run out of excuses and we are running out of time.

We have come here to let you know that change is coming, whether you like it or not. The real power belongs to the people.

27 January 2019Greta Thunberg: The disarming case to act right now on climate
Stockholm native Greta Thunberg first heard about climate change when she was 8 years old. She absorbed the solutions adults threw at her — recycle paper, study the data, train to be a climate scientist. None of it felt like enough. “What’s the point of learning facts in the school system,” she asks, “when the finest science from that system means nothing to our politicians and society?” In this passionate call to action, Greta explains why, in August 2018, she walked out of school and stood firm outside the Swedish parliament in an effort to prompt change. As she says: “We have all the facts and solutions. All we have to do is wake up and change.”https://www.ted.com/talks/greta_thunberg_school_strike_for_climate_save_the_world_by_changing_the_rules

12 January 2019Don’t Breathe
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 9th January 2019
Pollution is now the biggest threat to children’s health. So why is it so neglected?
Imagine that you could buy, in thousands of shops across the country, canisters containing toxic gas. Imagine that some people walked the streets, squirting this gas into the face of every child they passed. Imagine that it became a craze, so that a child couldn’t walk a metre without receiving a faceful. Imagine that, while a single dose was unlikely to cause serious harm, repeated doses damaged their hearts, lungs and brains, affecting their health, their intelligence and their life chances. https://www.monbiot.com/2019/01/11/dont-breathe/

27 December 2018
Are we at the tipping point for climate action?
In 2016, when we started our campaign calling on the Australian parliament to declare a climate emergency, we had no idea how far and how fast the idea would spread. Within a year we had the support of 20,000 individuals and 55 groups. Scientists, journalists and politicians from across the political spectrum had spoken out.http://live.org.au/climate-emergency-action/

23 December 2018
TED TRAINER. The case for De-growth — will continue to be ignored.
A De-Growth movement has emerged, mainly in Europe, in response to the fact that global levels of production and consumption are now grossly unsustainable. A vast literature documenting this has accumulated over almost fifty years. But the official world of politicians, governments, economists and media completely ignore it and devote themselves to growing the economy … that is, to accelerating us to our doom.http://johnmenadue.com/ted-trainer-the-case-for-de-growth-will-continue-to-be-ignored-2/

21 December 2018
Ten feelgood environment stories you may have missed in 2018
Michael Hopkin
Let’s be honest – environment news isn’t always the jolliest, and 2018 was no exception. From climate change, to recycling, to energy policy, at times it has felt like we’ve been lurching from one crisis to the next. So here are ten upbeat environmental stories from this year that prove it’s not all doom and gloom.https://theconversation.com/ten-feelgood-environment-stories-you-may-have-missed-in-2018-108759

16 December 2018
J. Marshall Shepherd: 3 kinds of bias that shape your worldview
What shapes our perceptions (and misperceptions) about science? In an eye-opening talk, meteorologist J. Marshall Shepherd explains how confirmation bias, the Dunning-Kruger effect and cognitive dissonance impact what we think we know — and shares ideas for how we can replace them with something much more powerful: knowledge.https://www.ted.com/talks/j_marshall_shepherd_3_kinds_bias_that_shape_your_worldview

8 December 2018
National Geographic photo contest 2018
Photo and caption by Jassen Todorov
Thousands of Volkswagen and Audi cars sit idle in the middle of California’s Mojave Desert. Models manufactured from 2009 to 2015 were designed to cheat emissions tests mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Following the scandal, Volkswagen recalled millions of cars. By capturing scenes like this one, I hope we will all become more conscious of and more caring toward our beautiful planet.https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/contests/photo-contest-2018/gallery/winners-all/1/

4 December 2018
Climate change: Where we are in seven charts
As representatives gather in Poland for talks on climate change, we look at how hot the world has got and what can we can all do to tackle global warming.https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46384067

“If they’re really serious they should make a commitment – no ice-cream, no hamburgers and no trips to the Gold Coast for schoolies.”Comment by Liberal Senator James McGrath.

Rioting is not one of the three ‘R’s, but being responsible and taking part in real learning is what education is all about. These kids are learning about the democratic process through participation – and all power to them.Comment by Greg Hunt.

On so many counts, the possibility of Adani going ahead is disgraceful. Matt Canavan’s little Aussie battler, Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, is now saying he’ll self-fund a much-reduced mine. Threats to water availability and quality, to the reef, to tourism jobs, to Galilee Basin biodiversity are all scary. Then there’s the emissions when the coal is burnt. Thank you for the leadership school students are showing, with commitment, with intelligence and with humour.
Comment by Greg Hunt.

The ‘leader of the free world’ talks about the US Administration’s climate change report “… a lot of people like myself, we have very high levels of intelligence but we’re not necessarily such believers … the air is incredibly dirty, and when you’re talking about an atmosphere, oceans are very small.” This guy is a blithering idiot but on this, as in so many things, his stupidity is dangerous.
Comment by Greg Hunt.

27 November 2018
A resounding mandate to properly clean up Victoria’s economy
LIVE wholeheartedly congratulates Daniel Andrews and his Team for their win in the Victorian Election. Their determined progressive policies to transition our economy away from dirty and wasteful energy systems to clean and renewable power, and investment in long neglected public infrastructure and services to address deep societal inequities and injustice have proven enormously popular.https://climacts.org.au/2018/11/27/a-resounding-mandate-to-properly-clean-up-victorias-economy/

22 November 2018
5 Principles for Making Better Life Decisions
Mark Manson
Most people look at each decision as a single roll of the dice. They don’t think about the fact that life is a never-ending sequence of dice rolls. And a strategy that loses a lot per roll can actually make you a big winner in the long run.https://markmanson.net/how-to-make-better-life-decisions

Once upon a time you could be confident that someone elected as a representative to Parliament, state or national, would be: 1. intelligent as well as have 2. good standing in the community with the 3. public interest as their motivation.With Turnbull knowing that too many in the LNP believe that climate change is a fraud, the first doesn’t apply, therefore the second can’t be considered and the public interest doesn’t even enter into it. Greg Hunt.

21 October 2018
Here’s 123 Things Our Liberal Leaders Did To ‘Confront’ Climate Change
A recent ReachTel poll commissioned by Greenpeace Australia found that for the voters of Wentworth – former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s old seat – tackling climate change was their number one priority. With the Wentworth by-election to be staged on Saturday, Liam McLoughlin thought it timely to help the good voters of the eastern suburbs focus their minds on the Liberal Party’s action on climate change over the last five years.https://newmatilda.com/2018/10/19/dear-wentworth-voters-heres-123-things-leaders-confront-climate-change/

19 October 2018
Tim’s “My Efficient Electric Home” facebook group has over 4,500 followers and is increasing at 100+ per week. It contains a wealth of information from local enthusiasts on becoming “all-electric”.https://www.facebook.com/groups/996387660405677/

17 October 2018The science of sustainability
Can humans drive economic growth, meet rising demand for food, energy and water, and make significant environmental progress? The short answer is ‘yes,’ but it comes with several big ‘ifs.’ New research shows that we can put the world on a path to sustainability if we make significant changes within the next 10 years.https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-10/uoca-tso101618.php

16 October 2018The all-electric home and the key steps to take
Why it’s important to transition to an all-electric home? What are the key steps to take? This speech was delivered by Tim Forcey at the launch of the CERES Eco-house on 9 October 2018. Tim has 35 years of industrial experience (electricity, oil and gas, petrochemicals) with focus on energy production, transmission and consumption.https://www.mefl.com.au/news/all-electric-home-speech-by-tim-forcey

26 September 2018How can we keep microfibers out of food, water and air?
Microfiber pollution is a growing problem around the world, with miniature contaminants shed by synthetic textiles being found in our food, our water and the air we breathe. What’s a concerned citizen to do?https://ensia.com/videos/microfiber-solution/

Note that rebates are available now, before the election on 24 November 2018. So get in early as the Liberals have poured scorn on the plan so may not continue them if they are elected. Details of how to apply can be found at https://www.solar.vic.gov.au/

10 September 2018
The daily post of environmental articles has been published every day since 2011.
You can spend your whole day reading articles of climate change gloom and doom.
So I am not going to publish it here anymore. Even I only read a couple of them.
It just depresses me.